11.15am update

Sharon may lift Arafat travel ban

An Israeli soldier watches an armoured personnel carrier pulling out of the West Bank town of Beit Jala, a move timed to coincide with the visit of the US vice-president, Dick Cheney. Photo: Gil Cohen Magen, Reuters

The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, said today that the travel ban on the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, would be lifted if he implemented a US-designed peace plan.

Meanwhile, the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, standing next to Mr Sharon at a news conference this morning, said he was willing to meet Mr Arafat.

The vice-president, who did not say when such talks would be held, had previously been criticised by Palestinians for not scheduling a meeting with Mr Arafat while he was in the region.

Mr Arafat has been confined to the Palestinian territories for more than three months by an Israeli military blockade.

Mr Cheney, who is nearing the end of a 10-day, 11-nation tour of the Middle East, had carried a request from Arab leaders that he push the Israelis to allow Mr Arafat to leave Palestinian areas to attend an Arab summit in Beirut, Lebanon, later this month.

Mr Sharon said Mr Arafat could attend the summit in Beirut if he carried out a truce agreement drawn up by the CIA director, George Tenet, which includes a crackdown on Palestinian militants.

Mr Sharon said: "I told the vice-president that the implementation of the Tenet agreement will enable Mr Arafat to go outside the borders of the [Palestinian] territories and this has been decided by the cabinet."

Mr Arafat "may be able to go to Beirut. It's all a matter of
days," Mr Sharon said. He added that the Israeli government would have to decide whether to allow Mr Arafat return if his behaviour at the summit amounted to "incitement".

Mr Cheney and Mr Sharon held their second talks in two days, and spoke to the media after Israeli troops pulled out of some Palestinian-run areas this morning. The US will remain "very actively engaged" in Middle East truce efforts, Mr Cheney said.

However, despite the latest peace initiatives, continuing violence saw two Palestinian gunmen infiltrate an army training area near the West Bank town of Nablus in a pre-dawn raid today. They opened fire on soldiers conducting exercises, the army said. An army officer was killed and three soldiers were wounded before other soldiers shot dead the attackers.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a Palestinian was killed by an Israeli army patrol while standing outside his shop in the town of Beit Omar, Palestinian security officials said. The army had no immediate comment.

Mr Sharon's order to Israeli tanks to roll back from Palestinian towns in the West Bank is a move calculated to please Mr Cheney, who is in Israel on a 24-hour visit. The US vice-president has drawn criticism from Palestinians for not scheduling talks with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, while meeting twice with Mr Sharon.
Mr Cheney came to Israel from Kuwait, the final of nine Arab states he has visited, to gauge support for possible US action against Iraq. Support, however, has been scant - and the message from Arab leaders has been that the US should focus on facilitating a Middle East peace.

US efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian truce intensified last week, with the arrival of US mediator Anthony Zinni. Yesterday, Mr Zinni brought together Israeli and Palestinian security officials for the first time in a month, and Israel agreed to withdraw troops from all Palestinian-run areas, which make up about 17% of the West Bank and two-thirds of the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this month, Israel had launched its largest-scale military operation in a generation, sending thousands of troops into Palestinian towns and refugee camps in a hunt for Palestinian militants who have carried out attacks on Israeli civilians.

Since last week, Israeli forces have gradually pulled back. Before dawn this morning, Israeli tanks pulled out of the West Bank town of Bethlehem and surrounding areas, the army announced.